Trip Report The Many Adventures of the Figaro Family in Florida

We are back! It's going to take me a little bit of time to organize the photos and my thoughts but I thought I'd at least get this trip report started. For anyone who wants to get to know us, you can read my pre-trip report "Everybody's Got a Laughing Place (and I can't wait to get to mine!)"
Quick re-rundown of the family: Me (Jo), my husband James, daughter Maddie (13), son Xander (10).
This was the longest vacation our family of four has ever taken together. Ten nights total in three different hotel rooms. It was a lot of togetherness but I think we all handled it pretty well, aside from various late night awakenings from loud snoring(James and Xander) and my daughter Maddie's sleep talking. I'm sure she does this at home too, but we don't hear her in her room. Every night on every vacation we've been on she'll sit up suddenly and start angrily lecturing about something while wildly gesturing. She never remembers it the next day and I'm left curious what she was dreaming about. No one complained about anything I did, so I assume I slept like an angel that does not snore or talk in her sleep.
I'll begin with the very end of the trip while it is still fresh in my mind then go back to the beginning when I get the photos organized.
The trip ended last night with a bit of good news then bad news. Good news was our flight got us home to Portland a full hour early!!!! It was a combo of being able to take off 15 minutes ahead of schedule and winds of some kind that shaved of the other 45 minutes. We were supposed to get home at 7:30pm pacific time but got in closer to 6:30. We were really excited because that meant we had a chance at picking up our three pets from boarding before the place closed at 9pm. We had thought we'd have to wait until this morning.
The first inkling of bad news came when we got our car from the long term lot and tried to pay the parking fee. James swiped his credit card but it got rejected. He tried again, rejected again. We try mine (same account), it gets rejected. "That's not good..." we say to each other. He pays with the bank card and we race home so we can drop of the luggage and James and Maddie can go to pick up the pets. I say "don't you think we should call the credit card company?" he says "I don't wan't to waste time with that, let's just get the pets home". They get to the boarding place and James tries to pay, the credit card gets rejected again. So there he is in the pet hotel calling the credit card company to find out what's going on. Apparently multiple fraudulent charges started showing up on our account while we were in the air and our cards got shut down. We use Disney Chase Visa and I do have to applaud them for catching this so quickly. James was able to get them to let our charge for the pet boarding go through before they fully shut down the account and we were able to identify all the charges that we did not make and don't have to worry about them. It didn't make for a nice relaxing homecoming at all! I have a bad feeling that it happened at the airport just before we boarded the plane. I went to one of those airport stands that sell snacks and picked up a few things for us to eat on the plane. I swiped the card instead of using the chip without thinking and even had a moment of unease about it at the time. I think it was an ideal place for someone to install one of those card skimmers.
This was truly the most drama filled moment of the entire trip. thought there were a few smaller ones that felt big at the time! I'll start at the beginning on my next post.
...stay tuned for part one: An extremely early morning drive to the airport.

 

[Figaro Family]

That's the Disney rash! Hot temps + humidity + extensive walking + sensitive skin= Disney rash. Itches like crazy, doesnt go away until you've been home for a week. I got it in August (and I was the only one) in the middle of our 16 day trip. I feel your pain!

That makes sense, I have really sensitive skin. I'm just glad the kids didn't get rashes!
The Athleta dresses are great, I'd already bought one that I wore earlier in the trip and one for Maddie then I found this one on clearance and had to have it too!

 

[Figaro Family]

My daughter always finds shirts she wants but they never have her size either...she asked me to just make her one instead LOL
View attachment 238743

That is a great shirt! You should sell those

 

[Figaro Family]

That is nice to know that the Minnie Vans have car seats. I think the vans would actually end up being cheaper than Uber if you need car seats because the Ubers with car seats are somewhat spendy.

I think its nice that you can know exactly what your going to get for the set price with the Minnie Van. If you have a child that is small enough to use one of the car seats, I imagine that there would be space then in the back for their stroller. Xander still uses a booster but we decided to wing it without one since the Minnie Van was just driving on property.

 

[Figaro Family]

After our family photos the first goal of the day was the Kilimanjaro Safari. I figured that it would be a walk on during the extra magic hour with Flights of Passage drawing in the bulk of the early visitors. This guess turned out to be a good one. We passed the line for FoP on our way to Africa and it was insanely long! Maddie drifted longingly toward the entrance to Pandora. "Can't we just take a look?" I shut her down like the cruel mom that I am. "We have FP's for the big ride there that everyone is waiting for. I promise you we'll be back later." I had to keep repeating this throughout the day as she got more and more anxious to get to the mysterious new land that she'd been wondering about nonstop since she first saw the banner at the airport. I pointed out that we'd get to see and do more if we focused on other things while there was such a crowd of people in Pandora earlier in the day. Sure enough, when we got to KS it was a walk on!
The first time we took Maddie on KS in 2011 was about four months after my neck surgery. I didn't go on any rides during that trip except for things like Dumbo or Aladdin's Carpets. I was so excited to get to go on the safari but realized quickly that it had been a bad idea for my still healing neck. They did such a good job on this mimicking a remote environment with no paved roads. It was a very painful ride, the only thing I could do was hang on and try to keep my head steady. We still laugh about how careful I was with rides on that trip only to be taken down by the safari. It still isn't the best experience for my neck but I enjoy seeing the animals so much, I just don't want to miss out!
I think we saw more animals this time than any other KS we've been on.

It took me several tries but I finally got a sort of clear shot of the animal identification guide (still can't read the names of anything though, so not as helpful as I imagined it would be)

This zoomed in shot turned out surprisingly clear. I'm
glad we weren't really very close to these guys.

I can't tell what Maddie is looking at in some of these!

 

[Figaro Family]

More animals!

 

[Figaro Family]

...and some more animals

Kitties doing what they do best.

Very enjoyable Safari!
I'm going to loop back and throw in some pictures from when we were waiting in line for KS. I missed them when I was uploading photos earlier!

sweet face

face of sarcastic teen humoring her mother

I had asked James to make a Sam Eagle face and these were his two attempts.

 

[rshell68]

You should sell those

Thanks! I worry that would take the fun out of making them LOL

 

[Figaro Family]

After our safari, I calculated that we had about 20 minutes before we needed to go back to the front of the park for our breakfast ADR at the Rainforest Cafe. I hoped this was enough time to walk the Gorilla Falls trail. Maddie had been disappointed on our last trip that we hadn't had a chance to go there. It was on our list of must do's but I didn't want to have to come all the way back later. Luckily 20
minutes was just enough time for a quick but satisfactory walk through. We got drizzled on a little during the walk but not too bad.

Gorillas!

This made us think of Grammy. She's always fascinated by the naked mole rats when she goes to the Oregon Zoo.

I was trying to take a picture of birds in this tree but it didn't turn out very well.

 

[Figaro Family]

Our Rainforest Cafe ADR was at 9:45am and we just made it. I don't think being late would have been much of a problem because it was really empty in there. I've never been to the Rainforest Cafe when it hasn't been packed, but of course we've never had breakfast there either. I didn't realize they served breakfast until l was planning the trip and trying to figure out where we'd fit in a meal here. It has been a Disney trip tradition ever since Maddie's first Disneyland trip at age three to go to the Rainforest. I have to say I was impressed! I wasn't expecting much more than just the usual experience of eating there. James and I were a little weary because our last few times at different locations we've ended up with extremely long waits for our food. This time was completely different, much quieter with less people which was great for Xander, quick service, the food was really good, including the mochas we ordered, and the price wasn't bad at all!

Lots of empty tables.

Maddie and I both had the cranberry waffle. It was really good and not expensive.

We were excited when Xander picked up a crayon and actually started doing the activities on the kids menu! We'd been working on word finders with him on menus at other restaurants at home. And look he found a word all by himself.

The "sky" above us.

Until next time Rainforest Cafe!

 

[riverside]

Our Rainforest Cafe ADR was at 9:45am and we just made it. I don't think being late would have been much of a problem because it was really empty in there. I've never been to the Rainforest Cafe when it hasn't been packed, but of course we've never had breakfast there either. I didn't realize they served breakfast until l was planning the trip and trying to figure out where we'd fit in a meal here. It has been a Disney trip tradition ever since Maddie's first Disneyland trip at age three to go to the Rainforest. I have to say I was impressed! I wasn't expecting much more than just the usual experience of eating there. James and I were a little weary because our last few times at different locations we've ended up with extremely long waits for our food. This time was completely different, much quieter with less people which was great for Xander, quick service, the food was really good, including the mochas we ordered, and the price wasn't bad at all!
View attachment 239105 View attachment 239107 View attachment 239108 View attachment 239110 View attachment 239111 View attachment 239113 Lots of empty tables.View attachment 239115 Maddie and I both had the cranberry waffle. It was really good and not expensive.

View attachment 239116 We were excited when Xander picked up a crayon and actually started doing the activities on the kids menu! We'd been working on word finders with him on menus at other restaurants at home. And look he found a word all by himself.

View attachment 239117 The "sky" above us.View attachment 239118 Until next time Rainforest Cafe!

Glad to hear a positive experience there. My last three experiences there(at both AK & Disney Springs) have not been good. Long waits & twice have “lost our reservation”—once after they had us checked in—really, how does that happen?? Anyhow after reading this maybe I will give them another shot!!

 

[fractal]

Not sure who's shirt I like better; James or Maddies'

 

[Figaro Family]

Not sure who's shirt I like better; James or Maddies'

I'm a tiny bit worried about Maddie's love of bad guys. At least she has the good sense to not like Kylo Ren. James can be so picky about his shirts, I was surprised he went for such a "loud" one!

 

[Figaro Family]

After our breakfast we had about 30 minutes before our first FP at Everest, our next one for Dinosaur wouldn't open until 1:10 so the plan was to walk the Maharajah trail first then go on EE later in the FP window then head over to Dinoland so Xander could play at the Boneyard before our next FP. As we started walking toward Asia we saw DiVine!

I'd heard of her, but had never seen her. That's another one crossed off the Disney bucket list.
We soon made it to the Maharajah trail. Maddie and I walked this on our last trip but Xander had been in a mood right then and the only thing that would make him happy was more playtime at the Boneyard so he and James missed out. Xander was in a very good mood this time so we had a nice walk. It rained just a little bit while we were here but not bad at all, it was more of a cooling mist.

I guess I can't be completely sure that this is the same lizard that we saw last time but I swear on our last trip this little guy really liked Maddie. He kept his eyes on her and sort of flirted even though there were other kids looking at him. She really has a way with animals. It was no different this time. I'm not a big fan of reptiles and am completely terrified of snakes but I have to admit this one is pretty cute.

Here she is with her little friend on the last trip.
We finally said goodbye and moved on down the trail.

 

[Doc Disney]

Earlier while we'd been walking around the World Showcase, I kept having these prickling sensations on my ankles like I was getting bit by something and they would start itching occasionally. I was sure our luck not getting bit by anything during the trip so far was over. I'd brought along a lot of bug spray but we hadn't used it since the first day and hadn't had a problem. "Darn it, I think I'm getting bit all over my ankles! Are you guys getting bites too?" I'd asked James and Maddie earlier. They both said no and Xander wasn't acting bothered by anything. I kept bringing it up throughout the evening as my ankles continued to itch. "Nope, just you" said James.
I could hardly stand it anymore by the time we got to our room. I discovered that rather than bug bites I had a 2-3 inch rash surrounding my right ankle like a cuff and a patchy rash on my left ankle too. It was really gross, I took pictures so I could compare the next day if it was better or worse but I will not subject anyone to that here. Luckily I'd brought benadryl cream along so I could cover my ankles with that. James ran out to the gift shop and found some benadryl I could take to get to sleep. It was really itchy and uncomfortable by then.
I still have no idea where the rash came from. It got better over the next few days then flared up again briefly after we got home.
With that bit of excitement we ended day 8 of the vacation!

That's the Disney rash! Hot temps + humidity + extensive walking + sensitive skin= Disney rash. Itches like crazy, doesnt go away until you've been home for a week. I got it in August (and I was the only one) in the middle of our 16 day trip. I feel your pain!

I am loving your TR! Also was totally going to say I'm sure it was a heat rash Sometimes I can't help but notice things on people when I'm walking around and I always see that

 

[Figaro Family]

The baby tigers had just been born recently so the cubs and Mama Tiger were in a private location. There was a cast member out with an ipad for anyone who was interested in seeing the video of the babies. I'm a sucker for kitties of all kinds so I stopped and chatted with her. I haven't seen any tiger updates lately but at that time she said they didn't know the gender of the babies since the mother was doing a great job taking care of them so far on her own, they were holding back on any human contact.
We got a great view of daddy tiger.

Some cool birds that walked right up to our feet.
We finished the trail earlier than I thought we would so we were at the very beginning of our FP window for EE. We went there next and got in line
.

Xander is plugging his ears in anticipation.

Love the different reactions of the people in front of us.
James hates that this ride goes backwards, thus his "I'm going to be sick" face. I'm screaming in pure terror for my neck. I do love this ride but I think I'd better be smart and skip it next time. Even though there is a headrest on this one, it has no cushioning and so my head kept bouncing against it when I tried to hold it steady.
We had a lot of time left now before we could ride Dinosaur. We went ahead to Dinoland since we'd already promised Xander that he could play at the Boneyard. I consulted the park schedule on our way and decided that we could shift our plans a little and catch a Flights of Wonder show after we'd let Xander play for awhile and still make it back for our Dinosaur FP. Originally I'd planned that for later but this would help move the day along and ensure we'd get to do everything on our wishlist.

Xander was thrilled to be back at his favorite playground in WDW!

 

[Figaro Family]

More photos from the Boneyard.

We talked Xander into touching the water but he was very careful to keep his shoes dry!

This one made me think of my favorite picture from the first time we visited this place with Maddie in 2011.

Here's what she was doing there this time.

She wanted to look up dinosaur facts so I handed over my phone and she very seriously researched the whole time.

 

[Figaro Family]

Glad to hear a positive experience there. My last three experiences there(at both AK & Disney Springs) have not been good. Long waits & twice have “lost our reservation”—once after they had us checked in—really, how does that happen?? Anyhow after reading this maybe I will give them another shot!!

We were really on the fence about going this time but Maddie was so enthusiastic about our "tradition" that I couldn't say no. I would definitely go back for breakfast again, it was such a different experience!

 

[Figaro Family]

I am loving your TR! Also was totally going to say I'm sure it was a heat rash Sometimes I can't help but notice things on people when I'm walking around and I always see that

Thank you! Your reports with your mom are always so fun, they helped inspire me to write this one.

 

[Figaro Family]

We convinced Xander to leave the Dinosaur playground early enough so we could make it over to the Flights of Wonder show. We walked over to the stroller parking area and discovered the amazing phenomenon of "Stroller Squirrels". This has to happen all the time, there are strollers everywhere in the parks containing crumbs and tantalizing snack baggies beckoning to the squirrel population. It's just that this is the only time we've ever seen one in action. When we walked up to the strollers there was a squirrel just sitting in the basket of a nearby stroller. Our arrival startled it into jumping out but it soon felt comfortable enough to start exploring again so I got out the phone to document and had to keep asking Maddie to stop trying to pet him.

a stroller bird joined in on the fun.
During the rest of the day we wondered how many squirrels had hung out in our stroller while it was parked throughout the trip.

 

[Figaro Family]

After that bit of fun (I don't think it take too much to amuse us) we headed on to Flights of Wonder. A goal for this day was to see this show and the Lion King show since we hadn't had time for either one on our last trip. We skipped Nemo this time around because that was the one we did get to see. It was really fun to watch but we wanted to try new things. Maddie wanted to sit down at the front which we did. I remember that this was one of the hottest weather moments of the day. We'd been sprinkled on a bit earlier but now the sun was beating down. I would have been happier sitting further back in the shade. Xander was a bit antsy and fussy right then so I was worried that James would have to take him out of the show early but he was able to hang on. Luckily his water bottle was full since he was really thirsty so that kept him busy.

We really liked this show! The clueless tour guide in the audience bit was pretty corny but the show as a whole was fun. I had the phone in video mode when the giant owl was released to fly over us and it went directly over my head! It's talons are inches away from my phone in the video.